(Dave Bedard photo)

StatsCan report to provide clarity on 2020 crop production

MarketsFarm — Market participants and producers will be looking to Statistics Canada’s principal field crop report, due out Thursday, for clarity regarding 2020 crop yields. “We’re looking to see how severely the heat damaged the crop, and how yield estimates were tempered later in the growing season,” said Jerry Klassen, an analyst in Winnipeg. Klassen […] Read more



File photo of a rye field in Kazakhstan. (Stsmhn/iStock/Getty Images)

Beware of Kazakhs wanting to buy seed, agency says

Seed growers and farmers alike are being warned such sales breach breeders' rights rules

Western Canadian seed growers, seed retailers and commercial farmers are being urged not to sell seed to Kazakhs or their agents because it breaches plant breeders’ rights rules. “The basic fact is no Canadian breeder has given permission for their genetics to go to Kazakhstan,” Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, […] Read more

Canola seed, oil and meal. (Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

October crush numbers up, canola record set

MarketsFarm — Canadian oilseed processors crushed a record amount of canola during October 2020, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Increases were reported throughout the canola and soybean crushes when comparing this October with October 2019. October 2020 saw 931,060 tonnes of canola crushed, which bested the previous record of 899,331 tonnes set […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Crop stocks forecasts mostly unchanged in AAFC supply/demand report

Corn carryout revised upward

MarketsFarm — Updated crop supply/demand tables from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released Friday, included only minor changes from the previous month. Larger adjustments are expected after Statistics Canada releases its final production numbers for the year on Dec. 3. Canola and all-wheat ending stocks for the 2020-21 marketing year were both left unchanged at 2.25 […] Read more



Television Report on cattle
Note: I certify to be the exclusive author of the image of cattle presented in the TV

Bridging the rural-urban media divide

I’ve had a couple of conversations with producers recently about criticism of the beef industry in urban media and public perceptions of beef production. I’m also on a virtual ag media panel for the Advancing Women in Ag conference slated for Nov. 24 to 25, and one of the questions we were asked to cover […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC identifies export, market opportunities for Canadian food

The ag lender's latest report highlights canola oil, pork, potato products, crab meat

Canada is already a major exporter of agricultural goods, food and beverages — but increasing food and beverage exports is still one of Canada’s biggest trade opportunities, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) says. And by diversifying exports, farmers will become less dependent on current major markets, reducing their financial risk. “When borders close for any number […] Read more


ICE January 2021 canola with 20-day moving average (yellow line) and CBOT January 2021 soymeal (green line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Bull market in canola’s grasp

That said, watch for cracks in demand side of equation

MarketsFarm — Canola is deeply in the hold of a bull market that could push nearby contracts to $575-$580 per tonne, according to Errol Anderson of ProMarket Communications in Calgary. “A bull market always needs to be fed and it keeps getting fed,” Anderson said, referencing the November supply and demand report from the U.S. […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ oilseed processing plant at Yorkton, Sask. (LDC.com)

Louis Dreyfus to gain first outside investor

Abu Dhabi's ADQ fund to acquire indirect 45 per cent stake

Paris | Reuters — Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) has agreed to sell a 45 per cent stake to Abu Dhabi’s ADQ, the companies said on Wednesday, the first outside investment in the family-owned commodity merchant’s 169-year-old history. The deal comes after a search by chairwoman Margarita Louis-Dreyfus for an investor to relieve debt built up […] Read more